I haven\u2019t entered a blog in over 4 months, primarily because I’ve been\u00a0held hostage by a financial crisis. \u00a0We were successful in reversing the crisis, but not without some “damage”. \u00a0The biggest damage I’m learning has been staff morale.<\/p>\n
In the last several months I\u2019ve heard several front-line staff tell me that health care has become too much like a business with too much focus on RVUs and money. \u00a0Some have \u201cattacked\u201d me personally for being too focused on the business aspects. \u00a0Financial strength is critical for long-term success (i.e. staying in business), and action is necessary when it\u2019s eroding. \u00a0And it’s not about the money, its about preserving the organization, the service it provides\u00a0to the communities, and the people who provide the service.<\/p>\n
This message was lost somewhere along the way. \u00a0I do admit that communication is hard and as hard as I tried to frame things in a balanced manner, the complete message didn\u2019t always get across. The root of this seems to be the cascading of the message \u2013 the ability of middle and front-line managers to communicate the message as intended: \u201cWe need everyone to think about where and how we can be more productive and where and how we can be more efficient recognizing that not all areas will have the same focus or countermeasures,\u201d becomes \u201cWe need to see more patients or we\u2019re all going to lose our jobs!\u201d \u00a0Hope is an important part of any message in a crisis and hope doesn’t appear to cascade.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s make no mistake about it\u2026health care is a business and it is the responsibility of management to keep it in business. Front-line people need to recognize that reality. However, management needs to face the reality that staff are emotionally attached to what they do, how they do it, and attached to their own personal finances whether they want to admit or not.\u00a0\u00a0 They are running a business at home, but don\u2019t want to see their organization run like a business.<\/p>\n
Celebrating early successes, thanking people, pointing out where we are excelling, and providing reminders that what we do is important to our patients and families\u2026isn\u2019t enough. Paying people the same amount and giving them a raise at the end of the year despite the huge challenges in making that happen isn\u2019t appreciated nor is it enough. So, what is a leader to do?<\/p>\n
Deming in his writings and speeches gave us a clue \u2013 the key processes and results of a business need to be constantly scrutinized for improvement and the improvement efforts need to include everyone. \u00a0So, when the crisis hits, everyone is already on the same page. These key processes and results rarely\u00a0change \u2013 they are constant \u2013 regardless of any crisis. \u00a0Metrics of efficiency, which often include financial markers, are now included in the critical processes and results of healthcare. \u00a0If you\u2019re in healthcare, expect to hear more and more about the importance of finances along side patient safety and the care experience.<\/p>\n
Key financial metrics and other metrics of efficiency are results, outcomes, that if not constantly improved will put you out of \u201cbusiness\u201d, out of “mission”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I haven\u2019t entered a blog in over 4 months, primarily because I’ve been\u00a0held hostage by a financial crisis. \u00a0We were successful in reversing the crisis, but not without some “damage”. \u00a0The biggest damage I’m learning has been staff morale. In the last several months I\u2019ve heard several front-line staff tell me that health care has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}